Men
What principles shall we uphold as men?
Popular Foundations
The Warrior, King, Magician, Lover has become a tradition of masculine inner work. It is based on the American popular strands of Jungian traditions.
It has been nearly 100 years since Jung originally published his works on the archetypes, and we might remember that both he and his mentor, Freud, where established medical doctors. Their project was firmly grounded in the best natural science of that time. The followers that have come sense, have narrowed it significantly from it's origins in a European cultural nexus.
How can we reestablish a expansive approach to the psyche?
Let us benefit from the prolific work of Jaak Panksepp who mapped the emotional circuits of the mammalian brain and coined the term: Affective Neuroscience.
In his studies of mammalian behavior and nuero anatomy, he distinguished these primary affective systems:
Mammalian Foundations of Feeling
SEEKING - The default curiosity of a rat whisking it's environment
FEAR - Flight and escape
RAGE - Attacking and biting
PANIC - Distress as the breaking of relational bonds
LUST - The range of sexual interests and acts
CARE - To nurture and groom each other
PLAY - Fun learning
SELF - The center of action selection
Each of us humans is thown into consciousness of this primal palate of potentials, vibrations, and impulses. It is our human responsibly to tame this animal nature and bring it into service. First of ourselves, our close circle, and outwards to all beings.
The Phenomenal Approaches of India
Even before these flavors arise, fundamental in the field of experience, we find the all pervading, ultimate Cit, this is how it is explicated in Trika Shaivism, one of the great articulations in Vedic philosophy. 1
Computation Perspectives on Being
The correspondence in modern science would be active inference, the statistical / computation model, With this we get canalization and surprisal, rich sources of understanding the elemental constituents of cognition.
Biological Foundations
And the theoretical biological understandings afforded by Michael Levin's work on Cognitive Glue.2
An integration?
To integrate all these perspectives will require more writing and thought, here, to get back to the purpose at hand, what does that tell us about a mens work group?
What does that mean for being a man?
The prehistoric antecedents of men's coming together has been
- To practice and hone leadership
- To support and witness each other
- To generate great works
- To establish and guard the perimeter
- To plunder and rape
The last has been added as a reminder that gathering alone is not sufficient to stand on an ethical footing.
Rather when we are looking for a modern expression of masculinity, we must be aware of this current cultural context. We are in an age of fragmentation and unfathomable complexity, at any time new fault lines can rip through our solidarity. So then, more than ever it is important to develop facility for conflict and repair.
Principles for a hyper modern Men's Group
- Embodiment - To steward the inner & outer ecosystems of animal forces
- Spirituality - To protect and uphold spacious compassionate awareness
- Leadership - To build relationships and hold boundaries